When seating the bottom RAM chip you may have to apply a little extra side force to get it to seat properly. I put in the new RAM and just got a beeping sound upon starting. I then put the old RAM back in and got the same result.

Here is the solution I found on the Apple discussion board.

"Take a small flat head screwdriver and after you put the memory in slot 0, put the screwdriver between the top of the mac mini and the memory then turn the screwdriver a little to exert pressure on the memory into the slot. Do it on both sides of the memory."

I remember this when I was changing my memory ... I realized (after opening) that more you push, more force it take to open the cover. As you push down you force the cover "to rub" the casing and possibly other things inside. If you "lightly" hold the cover it comes right off ... Remember: less is more! :-)

We found it hard to use the thumbs but if you put the casing on a carpet and one person is holding the case while the other is using his palm of one hand to turn the cover it comes off quite smoothly and without much downward pressure.

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I have a late 2012 Mac mini, but it must be an earlier version than this late 2012 Mac mini in this description, because removing the hard drive is much more complicated than described here. Please see this YouTube video if you have trouble removing your hard drive with these directions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvmuQIZP... There is a longer process you've got to go through. It can be done, it just takes much longer. (3-4 hours for me)

This applied to me as well. The iFixit article was good and lots of helpful information in the comments but my mini was different and required more dismantling. The video sandyfacebook posted was very helpful in taking me the rest of the way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvmuQIZP...

You actually don't need to disconnect the fan. You can just let it hang on the side while working. I accidentally killed my connector trying to pry it loose. It's being held together now by some tape, after spending hours trying to reconnect it and figuring out pin outs.

Be careful to LIFT UP on the fan connector cable. Using a spudger tool helps here. I mistakenly thought that the connector would slide off the logic board and tried to remove the connector this way. I ended up lifting the connector off of the logic board, thus ruining my logic board and requiring a $350 logic board replacement at the genius bar. The second time I did a HD/SSD replacement, everything worked fine.

Yeah, I did the same thing by following someone elses "shortcut". Now I am going to shell out 289 for quad core i5 board, and a new fan BTW. . . . . . Oh well never a dull moment :) and it gets an upgrade as well!

That's probably the must tricky part of the replacement. I did the same thing, i just pull on my cables and the connector stays on the board. Tried many times to switch cables into but any order i try is not the good one.

The avoid this, now, when i want to pull out my fan, i just use a plate screwdriver and lift up the connector. That's work perfectly.

I screwed it too... Not reading carefully enough, I accidentally removed the whole socket from the board. This happened with the IR connector too. When re-assembling the parts, the socket wouldn't stick to the board, now I know why. I don't want to buy a new logic board, because I can't afford one, so I'm trying to find someone to solder it. Seems hard to find someone able to repair logic boards these days. Hope I'll be successful, otherwise this is an expensive upgrade to my mac...

Followed all the instructions, everything went well, but now my mini fan won't turn off. It starts as soon as I boot up. I've tried every fan control software out there, and nothing works; the fan just constantly runs. I was very careful when I disconnected/reconnected the fan cable, and it looks fine. What else can I do?

The problem is most likely a disconnected or damaged temperature sensor, I had this problem when reassembling a 2007 Mac mini. It can't read the temperature, so assumes the worst and sets the fan to maximum.

I removed the fan and everything worked fine, but it’s good to know that it’s a “push-down“ connector, took me some time to relize that, all I needed to do was to press down the connector over the pins, see the picture for more details.

The cowling has a notch close to the midpoint of the flange that goes under the outer case, which slides onto a standoff screw attached to the logic board. I used a Sharpie marker to put one "alignment mark" on the inner edge of the outer case. I put another alignment mark from the midpoint of the cowling notch out onto the visible part of the cowling. This made it much easer to reassemble, especially since my standoff post provided a tight fit, which, when I did this the first time, felt like "it doesn't fit . . . again?" It also helped to insert the end of the cowling closest to the heat sink first, which acted as a "fulcrum" for the cowling to "click" onto the standoff post.

On reassembly, if you're having trouble lining up the cowling with the screw holes, you can try pulling the logic board out a tad and set the cowling in place. Just try not to damage the cowling or the inside of the outer case when sliding it back in!

When reassembling this aerial plate, it may take a very strong force to align the side lips with the screw bays. The circular edge on the body is meant to slot into the plate by less than 1mm. I followed the rule of thumb, which is, if it takes an unusual force, stop and think it out to avoid a disaster! Then, I hit on using a paper clip to get around this problem. Make a paper clip L-shaped to loop through a hole close to the edge of the plate, where the slotting is not deep enough. Gently lifting the paper clip, slide and push the aerial plate in place. This worked like a charm without using a strong force.

@Al Dente’s approach worked for me, but at first I didn’t understand what he meant. Basically the antenna mesh has a tongue and grove relationship with the mac mini shell; it is hard to see, but along the curved edge has a concave grove which needs to be widened. You can widen this concave grove with a paper clip and then it will fit perfectly.

DO NOT BRUTE FORCE the reinstallation of the plate. In my case, the top lip of the antenna plate has a notch which aligns with the edge of the opening was preventing the perfect fit. All I did in my case was use the spudger to pry open the notch a little more to give me a little bit extra space so that edge of the aluminum enclosure fits into that notch on the top of the antenna plate. Hope that helps. :)

I was installing an SSD in my mini and when I got to this step, an issue came up. The two 6.6mm screws on the antenna plate screw into one side of, and secure, the hard drive. The problem was the SSD was thinner than the original hard drive, so when I tried to reassemble, the hard drive sat too low for the screws to reach it.

Here's how I got around the problem. I loosely attached the antenna plate to the hard drive, leaving plenty of wiggle room between the plate and the drive. I also left the two stand off screws on the logic board off to give me more wiggle room there.

With the SSD attached to the antenna plate, I carefully connected and stowed the Bluetooth cable. Using the antenna plate as a handle, I was able to guide the SSD into the hard drive mount. Once in place, I tightened the 6.6mm screws more, which raised the SSD to the proper level.

After insuring that the screws all lined up, I installed and tightened the logic board, then the other antenna plate screws.

After trying these suggestions with a thinner SSD and couldn't get anywhere I used a bent paper clip, L-shaped, to act as a hook. One end I was able to simply hook under the drive and pull it up to install that ends screw loosely. The opposite end I inserted the paper clip through the antenna grate, again pulled up on the drive, installed the screw and carefully pulled the paper clip out.

The "engineering tolerances" are definitely tight for the AirPort antenna plate. I would recommend trying to replace it as soon as it's removed for the first time, in order to work out the (precise) alignment of it.

Nothing I tried (including the suggestions here) seemed to help me during reassembly. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get the holes for the two 5.0mm T8 screws to line up. Eventually, I had to resort to CAREFULLY and SLIGHTLY re-bending the curved edge of the antenna plate.

The tiny perforations on the grate rest ON TOP of the lip of the case, while the remainder of the grate slides UNDER the lip. It is very hard to see - I used a magnifying glass.

To get it into place, create a tiny hook on the end of a paperclip. Moving along the edge of the grate, lift a perforation with the hook to help it slip into place. Keep moving along the edge until entire grate is shifted into place.

I had several 2-terminal connectors that went to what appeared to be temperature sensors on several components including the hard disk and optical drive. I accidentally pulled the wires out of one of these connectors. Lucky for me, they came out clean and I was able to just re-insert them into the connector

As everyone else has noted during re-assembly, seating the antenna plate is tricky. For me, what ended up working was to attach the hard drive screws first. After this, with just a little wiggling of the plate, the 2 5mm screw holes lined up perfectly.

Aligning the drive holes with the ones on the antenna grate was easy – just take the pointy end of the spudger. Also, for getting the circular part of the grate set correctly, I had to bend down the outermost part a tiny little bit and then used curved tweezers to lift the grate once it was near its final position to get it slide in the last millimeter. Frustrating at first, but it worked after a few tries.

Has anyone had any trouble getting the two 5.0mm screws back in place? I can't seem to get them in, as they just keep on turning. I thought the thread may have been damaged but I then removed the plate and could screw them in position okay. It seems the depth of the plate is causing the screws to not go down far enough. I've had to leave these off at the moment (obviously not great as this means the bottom cover is loose. Any ideas?

I had the same problem but only on one of the two screws. Then I realized there's a little tiny "o-ring" underneath which is acting like a nut. I lost one of them in the process of upgrading. If I could find out where to buy a new one I would!

The antenna plate seems to give most people problems. Somewhere along the line I found reference to "a wiggle here and a wiggle there" and that seemed to work. Shy away from the brute force - it's the surest way to damage something.

Despite all the efforts, I couldn't manage to insert both side screws for the antenna plate. I ended up only using a single one (the one nearest to the HD connector), hoping it will hold the weight of the SSD.

Same issue with that antenna plate - take a look at it from the side and you will see the incredibly tight gap which the lip of the case needs to slot into. I assumed it simply butted up against the case, but no.

I used a big paper clip as suggested here, putting in one screw and then lifting through the perforations while applying a little pressure to the plate. Turned out there was one point misaligned and after a few tries it popped back in.

The thickness of your hard drive or SSD plays a part here, I think. With a thicker SSD (Crucial M4) in the upper slot I found the antenna plate very hard to re-install. After replacing this with a Samsung Evo 850 it was much easier, I think because the lower drive has more room to breathe. With the thinner SSD I didn't have to remove the power supply, either – a major plus.

For those having trouble reinstalling the Aerial Plate, it is probably a matter of alignment. The recessed edge of the plate slides all the way up under the lip edge of the case. I used my iFixit bent tweezers spread and inserted through a couple holes to lightly pull up on the grate while pushing on the flat edge. No hard force was required. It just snapped right in. You'll know when it is home because it will be a snug fit to the edge of the case inside the arc of the opening.

I would also add that during the reassembly process, make sure the drive stays firmly seated in the grommets. There's a tendency for it to come out or partially out. I kept nudging on it to make sure it was fully seated. Then the antenna screws line up nicely. Some of the problems I read about getting the screws in I suspect arise form the hard drive not being fully seated.

Al Dente and Chris1000 provided the key for me. I used the logic board tool to help lift the cutout sections into place on the top part. Once I did that I slid in to place so easily I almost pulled it out of place trying to adjust it.

Hilariously, I was trying all the tricks, with the paper clip, and putting the drive screws in first, nothing working for me to get the case screw holes aligned. I ended up saying “one screw might just have to do it”, so I put the first case screw in, then I tried putting the second one in from an angle into the misaligned hole, and screwing it in, and that caused the plate to pop into place!

What finally helped me was to check things one at a time. To check the tongue-and-groove fit, I installed the antenna plate by itself, with the hard drive removed. I used a spudger to pry open the groove on the antenna plate, since I had closed it a bit by forcing things. After the antenna plate was going in by itself, I focussed on the hard drive. At first, I was pre-attaching the hard drive to the antenna plate, but this makes it hard to see if the hard drive is going in as far as it should. Getting the two protruding screws on the hard drive into their holes is tricky (I found turning the Mini upside down to use gravity helped), but for me it was some wires at the side of the hard drive space that were getting under the drive and making it sit up high that was the problem. Once I got the hard drive in, and then the antenna plate, I could get the last two screws which hold the drive to the plate to catch by turning the Mini upside down and tapping it on top to bring the hard drive close to the plate.

The top curved part of the antenna plate has a thin lip on the bottom edge, but is very flexible. During reassembly when sliding the antenna plate back into position, if the 4 holes do not exactly line up, then try bending that lip downward a bit and the antenna plate should then line up perfectly.

Actually, curved edge of antenna has a groove into which an edge of aluminium body should slide in. In my case a vary slight lift by putting tip of tweezers into one of the antenna top holes made a good help - antenna popped into correct position.

Absolutely correct. Thanks. The wide-head screws holding in the antenna plate may be used on the upper side of the HD (SSD in my case) to help hold the side of the HD that slips under the case -up- so the two side mounting screws in the drive may be seated properly in the case. This is easier to do than to describe. (Others have noted this, as well and I followed the advice.)

I skipped steps 10 and 11 but had to do the rest to get the drive out. My system had a second drive so that may be why the logic board had to be removed to have enough room to get the drive out past the DIMM sockets.

On the Late 2012 model the antenna connector is hidden under the case, so unlike as indicated in step 10 you can not see the connector and definitely not remove it until the Logic Board has been eased out an inch. Note how the cable makes a loop under the case as it is removed. Remember to reconnect the same way with the loop and connected before the logic board is pushed in all the way.

If your machine came with a 7mm drive and you are replacing with a 7mm drive you do not need to move the logic board. I installed an Intel 335 240GB drive which is a 9.5mm drive and to get that drive in I did need to bump the logic board out to clear the memory slot brackets. I did not need to remote any other wires or connections as the logic board only needs to move maybe an 1/8" to get the drive to clear the memory bracket.

When removing the wifi antenna make sure you use a plastic spudger and lever up underneath the wire. I used a metal screwdriver and levered up from the side opposite the wire and ripped the pico-ITX connector right off the board! Fortunately I only use my mini via Ethernet, but now I have no choice!

I have a late 2012 Mac mini, but it must be an earlier version than this late 2012 Mac mini in this description, because removing the hard drive is much more complicated than described here. Please see this YouTube video if you have trouble removing your hard drive with these directions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvmuQIZP... There is a longer process you've got to go through. It can be done, it just takes much longer. (3-4 hours for me)

You might find the two silver screws (along the edge of the grill) will not attach. That's because the hard drive was installed a millimeter or two in the wrong place (or maybe the new hard drive has screw holes offset, in the wrong place). This happened to me. Rather than take it apart (again), I'll just secure the two screws that go into the tabs. No question this will keep things secure enough (just a question if I'll suffer noise or rattle). Extra screws are fun :-)

It may just be my own experience, but the hard drive connectors appear to be "sensitive" to ANY pressure, even when (re)connected properly. I found that I had to repeatedly re-seat them when re-installing the drive, AirPort antenna, and cowling. I would recommend holding off on putting the screws back for the AirPort antenna and cowling until both are in place, and re-checking the hard drive connectors before installing/tightening those screws.

As UNSC Jon 117 says, these connectors are worryingly prone to pop off if there's any movement of the drives. Fortunately they're accessible even after refitting the antenna plate, so I would wait until then for a last-minute check. I've done this job three times now on the same Mac and everything has been fine.

On my 2012 mac mini, the IR sensor was just soldered to the board--no connector that you could snap out. I have never used the remote with it, so I just let it disconnect. But I did have a few moments of panic while I remembered what the IR was for.

Yes, this is extremely fragile. A couple of the pins on the logic board broke off. They are very tiny pins that are secured to the board surface with solder. I was very careful with it too, but they broke nevertheless. There is no repairing that when it happens. Thus, I have no IR sensor (which I never used) and no front LED (minor loss - not worth the cost of a new logic board). Works fine otherwise.

I also just snapped this off by levering at the wrong point. So this is just for the IR sensor and the flashing light? If so, I'll just ignore it and happily carry on with life without these two features that I never used or noticed! I've been searching for someone who can do the delicate welding to reconnect the 5 pins but if what you say is true I'll stop searching.

Recommend emphasizing even more in the instructions, the potential for disaster!

Also: do not attempt to bend the pins upwards to install, and then bend it back. I broke 3 pins that way.

It easier if you unhook the wires from a couple of tabs on the side attached to the case. That allows more leeway to manipulate the connector. There are two plastic tabs, and the wires are routed between them so that they do not move out of place.

I suggest taking a good close-up photo so you can see how the parts fit together. That's how I was able to figure out what I was doing wrong.

TerribleHacker: "pull it out parallel to the logic board" – no, or at least not on mine. The pins are vertical and the socket has two vertical tongues that fit into grooves on the plug. Vertical is the way to go. In cases like this I use tweezers to pull gently on the wires, and if possible the plug – but the latter is very difficult in this case.

Before attempting to remove the connector, use 5 minute epoxy to glue the wires together. Do this in several small batches and apply with a toothpick, right up to the plastic connector, but not glued to the connector (to risky and not necessary). Be especially careful not to glue to the motherboard. You basically want all 5 wires glued together as if they were a ribbon cable. After the epoxy is cured, pry up from underneath the wires to remove from the motherboard.

I lost my IR sensor and HDD led light as well. Everything was moving along smoothly and I got cocky with the spudger and lifted the connection out of the board. I reassembled with the upgrades and it ran just fine. Like others, I had never used the remote and couldn’t see the HDD light where the mini sat on my desk anyway.

The best way is to first remove the logic board already 0.5 cm out, like discribed in the next steps. Look closely at the wires, they tell you how far you can go! Then take a cotton swab, cut off the cotton ends ending witha plastic stick, bend the end to get it easily under the wires and pull it carefully upwards. The connector then comes off in one piece.

The best way is to first remove the logic board already 0.5 cm out, like discribed in the next steps. Look closely at the wires, they tell you how far you can go! Then take a cotton swab, cut off the cotton ends ending witha plastic stick, bend the end to get it easily under the wires. Take both ends and pull it carefully when it is as close as possible to the connector. The connector then comes off in one piece.

The "yellow screw" depicted in this picture doesn't exist in the Mac Mini late 2012, at least in mine. Well, to be more precise, it exists but was already removed when the fan was unscrewed (it was actually in the fan).

On re-assembly, when you're putting the HD back in place, before you've pushed the logic board fully back into place, make sure the disk is in the right place for the antenna plate screw holes (step 8/9) or you'll have problems getting the screws back in. I did, and had to back up a few steps to realign the disk drive!

Look at all of the images. Initially, I took the text literally. I pulled the tool straight back without letting it pivot, and without success. I suggest the following additions: "The tool acts as a lever. Carefully pull the top of the tool down and toward the I/O board. The logic board and I/O board assembly should slightly slide out of the outer case."

If you don't have the removal tool you can just plug an ethernet cable into the I/O port and pull on it to help ease it out...if it's a bit stiff push on the fan duct at the same time...be gentle and it'll release...

I found that there is one step missing for removing the logic board. Once you have the removal tool in and pulling back check to see if you can push in on the taps that are on the outside of the logic board. On the right side if I had known this I would have tried pushing in on the tap and it might have released a little easier. There is not a good photo of the taps but in photo 17 between the pointer and index finger the tap is located on both right and left hands.

Even better, you can just use one of your screwdrivers if you do it carefully, just push out each side a little bit and rock out the logic board. No special tool needed. Just be careful not to damage your logic board and/or apply too much force.

While you can remove this pin with your fingers as shown in the photo, putting back in proved frustrating by hand. I finally got out a forcep which allowed me to grab each side of the plug and push it in at a flat angle.

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In April, I purchased a late 2012 mini (MD387LL/A) - 2.5Ghz i5 with 500MB hard drive.

It looks like Apple now secures the drive to the tray with 3 screws. 2 on back side and one on front. This means the entire drive tray has to come out to remove the drive - it no longer just "lifts out" as in step 18. In order to remove the drive tray, you have to remove the power supply (step 22).

During reassembly, watch the power harness and connector from the power supply when reinserting the logic board assembly into the case. When the board is close enough for the connector to reach, re-attach it before inserting the board the rest of the way. I found that if the connector is lined up properly, it almost attaches itself.

Also, when you're re-assembling (especially with a tight squeeze if you've got dual drives), be sure that the internal AC power connector matches up in profile with the port outline on the rear plate of the main logic board assembly. If the two aren't mated identically, the black port plate won't mate flush with the aluminum case.

Does anyone know if the airport/bt board from a mac mini late 2012 can be retrofitted to the 2011 mini? this would add the airdrop functionality to the older device in theory and I have seen a similar procedure performed on MacBook pro's

I did the same thing, except two caps popped off the board. Perhaps drinking half a fifth of whiskey before starting this project was unwise. Although, if the sucky SATA cable that came with the ifixit kit had worked in the first place, I wouldn't have had to pull the thing apart again to replace it with the OWC cable (which supposedly doesn't suck).

During reassembly, the SD Card reader end of the I/O Bezel will not go back in flat like the AC power connector end, thus the SD Card reader end protrudes about 0.5mm from the edge of the back of the MacMini, I tried took it out and put it back in many times but could not manage to push it all the way in. The truth is it is hard to notice and everything else works fine but it is annoying to see that tiny bit protrusion. Anyone else had this problem? or it was like this already before I took it out? i can't remember what was it like now.....

During this process, I took advantage of having the logic board out, checked the BR2032 battery, which tested nearly dead, and I replaced it with an ECR2032 battery. If you choose to do this, be careful with the moving and replacing of this button battery. There is a wee-little directional arrow on the ( - ) side of the battery holder, which means move the battery without prying towards the positive ( + ) side. One end of the battery then pops up to grab. I also tested the new replacement battery before putting it in. I used an AMPROBE BAT-200 Battery Tester.

If you look closely at the photo for this stage, just up and to the left of where you unplug the power cable, you will see a white wire going into a grey sleeve attached to a grey plastic plug of some description. That’s not what I have. What I have is five wires, two of which (one black, one brown) have tiny copper clips which suggests that they were attached to the logic board. The other three wires (two black, one grey) look like they were torn off and damaged during the removal. I’d post a photo but there doesn’t appear to be the facility for it.

During reassembly, after putting the "lower" drive back, test fit the AirPort antenna to make sure the two holes in the antenna plate line up with the two holes in the drive. If not, check that the power harness from the power supply is routed correctly. If the power harness is next to the power supply, go back and re-route it properly.

Before I started this ifixit I read a lot of people talking about the antenna not going on properly and problems with the hard drive. I found that the problem is the two grommets inside the front of the casing. These grommets are where the two screws on the existing or upper most (when the case is inverted) hard drive should go into.

I was placing the hard drive flat against the second hard drive I'd added which ment the two screws weren't in the grommets and we instead pushing on the outer casing. This meant the hard drive was in the wrong position and if I had continued with the rest of the reassembly the antenna definitely couldn't have fit correctly. I spotted this and made sure the hard drive was in the grommets, leaving enough room for the power cables to sit between the two hard drives.

With the hard drive sitting correctly you should find everything goes back together very easily. If you get to the end and nothing seems to fit this is probably the reason why!

I bought my mini in late June 2013. My hard drive was not mounted as indicated, it was in the lower slot. I had to insert the grommets into the upper holes. You need to use a non metal flat edge to get them in, my fingers had no leverage when reaching into the aluminum shell. I also waited until I had removed everything from the case before inserting them to minimize the risk of harming an internal component.

This is one case where having the actual reassembly instructions would be helpful. When I put my drive back in the upper position, I thought it was in the right place, even tried to move it and it seemed like it was locked into the holes, but it wasn't, so I had the issue with the antenna plate not going back on. It was so close. It seemed like it should work, but nope.

So, after disassembling again, I played with it some and the best, most surefire way to get it to line up is to hold the unibody upside down when inserting the drive. It has to be essentially at the top to catch the holes. Thin drives make it even more of a problem.

Once I did this, it fit in great and stayed in with no need to hold down, and there was now another 1/8" between the motherboard and the drive, which doesn't seem like much, but in this tight case, its everything. The antenna plate then went in perfectly, all 4 screws were in with no issues at all and the connectors for the two drives stayed on with no issue.

Like others, I found with my November 2013 purchased Mac Mini, Apple had installed the internal hard disk in the bottom location (bottom when working on the unit upside down as detailed in this guide).

I found that it was best to remove that drive, and install the SSD in the bottom location, but use

* 2 of the rubber grommets and screws (that came with the ifixit kit) on the front edge of the drive

* that let me use 2 of the screws from the original mac mini on the back top HDD as they are larger screws than came with the kit

That way the HDD didn't rattle in the top location.

I also

* Installed the SSD in the bottom location with the original apple cable

* Installed the spinning 1TB drive into the top location (which made it easier for the top wifi screws to screw into

* But I had to reshape the cable (that came with the ifixit kit) quite a bit to get it to line up with the connector on the logic board.

During reassembly I had the reported problems of getting the original drive in the right spot. You should note that there is a gap on the left side. My drive slid in (twice) so it was right up against where the connectors are on the left side. Slide it right so there is a gap.

Found it easier to place the SSD in the "lower" position (closer to the bottom of the Mini, but upper while working on the disassembly/reassembly) by resting the Mini on its front side. Easier to move the pegs into the grommets installed in the case. Easier to see if they're not lined up at all.

Follow the advise of malcolmgin. During reassembly place the Mini on its front, and let the HDD or SSD (doesn't matter at all) slip into the two "rubber holes". This way everything is easier to see and to direct.

Putting the old drive into its proper place and fitting the antenna plate correctly are the two most difficult actions if you follow the instructions. An easier way is to remove the two tabs (bolts) at the rear end of the old drive (since they just cause trouble) and affix the drive to the antenna plate. THEN attach the antenna cable to its receptacle (very difficult) and insert the plate with drive attached into the computer. When the whole assembly is in place and bolted in place, it is easy to connect the drive cable to the motherboard. By this method, the drive has no chance of snagging.

I replaced the two black rubber grommets with two white silicone ones. The white grommets were easier to see, and (whew!), they didn't catch and deform like the black ones did. I also used the "gravity technique" mentioned above, along with putting two T8 screws temporarily into the side holes of the hard drive closest to the logic board to use as "positioning handles" and guides to place into the "far end" white grommets. Being able to align much easier, along with controlling the hard drive, made for a much smoother replacement from my first adventure.

Careful when reassembling. Don't make the same mistake I did by attempting to screw in the hard drive bracket without having the power supply re-inserted and aligned. Otherwise the screw will end up in the piece attached to the bottom of the case (where it's not supposed to be) and you will have no choice but to pry the glued part off the case to remove it. If you start to hear a "crunchy" sound when screwing, stop immediately because it's probably a glued part coming off.

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During reassembly, notice that the silver clip hugs either side of the lower beveled edge of the AC connector. When sliding the clip back in it will hit a stop, but not click into place. You will know that you did it correctly because it will not easily move out of position.

When putting it back, make sure that it's both in the correct place and fits properly; otherwise, it may come loose. After reassembly, if you hear what sounds somewhat but not quite like a loose screw rattling around in the case, it's probably this clip.

Don't worry: it's only 20 steps to get back to it. I hate this metal clip. ;-)

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For the late 2012 model at least, when re-assembling, make sure the edges of the plug are lined up with the innermost grooves in the case (there appears to be another set that is closer to the outside of the case).

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Specifically, note the power harness and connector, and that it's routed "above" the inner edge of the power supply ("below" when viewed from this angle). That power harness needs to be in the same position when replacing the power supply during reassembly. If the power harness ends up next to the power supply instead, the "lower" drive won't fit properly and the AirPort antenna won't line up correctly.

After struggling with this the first time, I laid the cables "more flatly" closer to the power supply, and then secured them with a piece of black electrician's tape. This made reassembly much more tolerable, by keeping these wires hugged close and out of snagging way. There does not appear to be any heat damage to the tape over the past year.

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With virtually everything removed from the outer case, this is a good time to look toward the front of the case to notice the two locations where the standoffs from the "lower" drive normally fit. You'll want to be aware of this when reinstalling that drive later.

This step is far, far harder than it should be as ifixit decided to save a few pennies on the cost of the grommets - they are made of a hard and relatively inflexible pvc, whereas the Apple supplied ones are a lovely flexible rubber that can be easily inserted. I'm very disappointed in ifixit.

The ribbon cable with my kit was already bent correctly when I received it. Not sure if it was just that one or if they're all going out like that now, but it saved me a few steps (and worries about ruining the cable). Thanks! :-)

I bought my mini in late June 2013. My internal hard drive had the same cable as the one in the iFixit kit. I had to position the cable for the upper drive on top and not in-between the drives as indicated. I also had to bend the ribbon in the opposite directions. Be careful. The ribbon can be adjusted but due to the location of the sata connectors on the mainboard the cable for the upper hard drive does not lay flat against the drive. There is room for it under the vent that the wireless cable is attached to if you have the upper drive seated correctly in the grommets but it is not pretty.

I have been using my mid-2011 Mac Mini as a media player while working/living oversees. Decided to upgrade to an SSD HD and add more RAM (4 to 8 GB). With the ifixit kit, I was able to add the SSD in a little over an hour. My only issue was with the SSD data ribbon. I didn't realize at first that the new drive's data ribbon was designed to be routed underneath the original drive, which required me to backtrack to reinstall the original drive. Otherwise a smooth installation and I like the toolkit that's included which will be handy for other projects.

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I think it is best to have a good look to see if all this bending is really necessary. It was definitely not with my set of SSD drives (2) and cables. It was a perfect fit already, the only thing what was good to do is to remove the paper protector from the self-adhesive material so that the cable of the second drive cold be fastened to that drive to prevent rattling if vibrations occur.

My SSD kit had countersunk screws which protruded a long way, causing the disk bracket to catch on the front of the mini when I re-inserted it. I avoided the problem by putting the grub screws in the other side so they point towards the front of the mini. This left the countersunk screws pointing towards the logic board, where there was plenty of room.

On my SanDisk SSD Plus, there was actually nothing inside the case (which is mostly hollow) to stop the setscrew. Just screw it in far enough to match the picture, leaving 3-4 mm protruding. That way when you insert it into the bracket, you'll be flush with the rubber grommets.

Poor me now has a setscrew rattling around inside the SSD forever. It's okay so long as the Mac mini doesn't move but obviously it's aggravating.

I had the same thing as dan — in my case it was a Crucial MX500 that had no stop for the setscrew and I ended up screwing it all the way into the drive. Can I suggest adding a warning to the main instruction for this set? I wish I had thought to check the comments first…

When re-installing the original hard drive (aka - inner hard drive), be sure that this drive's two side pins fit exactly into their rubber mounts that are deep inside the Mac Mini.I achieved a nice fit by turning the Mac Mini on its side so gravity would align the pins with their respective holes with ease.

Same here. I basically had to turn the Mac Mini completely upside-down (hence, "right side up" from the normal operational standpoint), then gently move the drive pins into place against the side of the case. Once they went in, then the antenna plate screws lined up nicely.

I suffered the same with this. In the end I sat the Mac Mini on it's end and lowered the originally fitted hard drive into the pin lugs on the casing. Once the logic board was in place it stopped it from falling forward / out of position.

I installed an OWC Mercury Extreme 6G SSD into my Mac Mini. Comparing this SSD to others it is almost 1 mm wider and the screw holes are not quite as deep. Because of this it does not fit very well into the upper HD space. I recommend swapping the stock drive into the upper spot and putting this SSD in the lower slot. It fits much better.

I also very much recommend turning the Mac upside-down. I struggled to get the pegs in the holes, until I held the Mac upside down and started wiggling the drive. It was pretty easy to see when the drive was seated correctly: there's a plastic tab under the top drive. If the pegs are not in the holes, you'll see that the drive is flush with the plastic tab. When the pegs are in the holes, you'll have around 2mm clearance between tab and drive.

Everthing ok with this guide. I took a lot of time, about 2:30h but it worsed. The ssd is in the lower position and the system boot ok. Now Im installing the system in the ssd and I will format the HD. I will pray for this works.

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When you start up your machine, you'll see both drives are recognized by the Mini.

Xbench scores show that if you install hard drives in either the top or the bottom position, their speeds will remain the same.

To minimize the amount of work necessary when adding an SSD to be used as your primary drive, we recommend installing the SSD like we did in this guide and leaving the stock platter drive in its original bottom position (closest to the antenna plate). After reassembly, boot the Mini into Lion Recovery and use disk utility to erase your SSD. Then install Lion on your SSD. After rebooting, go into system preferences>startup disk and choose your SSD as the startup disk.

I would appreciate seeing another photo or two to differentiate the two drives in place-- I dont see the difference between the original hard drive location-- the old one-- and the new one. The end of the guide mentions installing the 2nd drive to the outer case, but thats confusing.

I have followed the good advice here on upgrading a 2013 Mac Mini (500GB) to SSD.

However, on step 37 I disagree. What happened:

- I had OS X Maverick on the original 500 GB HDD

- installed the SSD in the "Upper" position, as in the figure

- left the original 500 GB drive in its original, "Lower" position (meaning upper when the Mac is upside down)

- followed the steps in 37

- install was terribly slow, ~6 hours; there was some data corruption, the SSD would not boot; I tried to fix permissions, disk etc, no help; benchmarks showed slow read with normal write speed; after a while there was an error about the SSD could not be repaired and it disappeared (unmounted)

- at some point I've seen some complaint about Fusion drive. Then l realized that is it possible Maverick tried to treat the SSD + HDD as a single fusion drive?

- switched the positions of the HDD and the SSD, so now the SSD was in "Lower" position. Also moved the protecting/insulating sheet to the SSD.

Just realized that many people had the same problem. If I read the comments too, I would have saved myself a lot of trouble :). But at least we have a plausible reason for the described behavior: the position matters, and OS X may try to handle the 2 drives as one Fusion drive (and somehow fails at that). Maybe it's a setting issue, or just has not been tested this way. Consumers should not upgrade to SSD by themselves :).

After connecting the new SSD to the empty bay I tried to follow the steps that recommend making a fresh install with Lion internet recovery. This process got stuck the 3 times I tried. So I googled for other options and found that I you clone your former HD with Carbon Copy Cloner, fix the permissions with disk utility and then make the SSD the bootable drive, everything goes fine. I used this tutorial: https://discussions.apple.com/message/22...

Zoltan I had a very similar experience as you yesterday, I installed a Samsung 840 evo SSD into the upper position and kept the original 1TB HDD in the same place, according to the guide. Then I encountered lots of weird issues trying to partition the SSD with disk utility. Not to mention its slow and sometimes the disk even unmount by itself. I spent many hours and figured out swapping the positions of the two drives might help, then it worked!!! I hope I read the comment here earlier.

POINT IS: Better to put the SSD in the lower position and move the original disk to upper position, you may or may not have issue following the guide, but apparently lots of people have run into performance or stability issues .

You are right, install an ssd in the upper position make the mini think that a Fusion drive is installed and try to configure itself as fusion while the twin has not the proper firmware, while with the ssd in the lower position do not fool the system.

"After reassembly, boot the Mini into Lion Recovery and use disk utility to erase your SSD. Then install Lion on your SSD. After rebooting, go into system preferences>startup disk and choose your SSD as the startup disk."

NO! STOP! DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!

Do NOT use the Disk Utility on the Recovery partition. Boot your Mini normally and use the Disk Utility that you access through your Applications/Utilities folder. Use Disk Utility to create a new Single Partition (Mac OS Journaled) on your new drive and verify that it can be seen in Finder. After that, Install OS X using Command - R and specifying the new SSD drive. After reboot restore from your old disk and Bob's your Uncle.

Has anyone confirmed that there is a correct order to put the drives in? Seems like people have had success and failures with either position? I was going to leave the original drive in it's slot and add a Samsung 850 EVO in the blank slot? or is it necessary to flip them? Thx for the guide. Here goes nothing...

Has anyone confirmed Ithat there is a correct order to put the drives in? Seems like people have had success and failures with either position? I was going to leave the original drive in it's slot and add a Samsung 850 EVO in the blank slot? or is it necessary to flip them? Thx for the guide. Here goes nothing..

I successfully completed this and converted the two drives to a Fusion Drive and it seems to be working splendidly. I wasn't careful enough the first time in getting the power cables under the power supply the first attempt and the old hard drive was out of position and couldn't be screwed back in. Just make sure they are tucked under. The tips about the antenna plate were spot on. See that there are two levels of grill and one goes under and one goes above. Used my spudger in a grill hole to lift slightly as I slid it back into place.

Didn't really think I would be able to complete this but very happy this guide was here and now I have a great set of tools for the next repair. Thx SO much!

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When adding second drive, be sure that the power supply cables are secured out of the way to allow drive to be seated correctly. If cables are in the way, screw holes do not quite line up with antenna plate.

This didn't go so well. I did manage to assemble everything according to the manual, but it was one !%!$ of a fight, and now the machine boots, but the SSD I installed is nowhere to be found.

One thing I noticed is that the cable supplied to connect the second drive to the mainboard, is slightly too long. I had to bend it quite a bit so that it would line up with the connector on the mainboard, otherwise the cable would extend about 5 mm into the mainboard and not line up. I'm afraid now that I might have broken some of the wired on the adapter while bending it. However, without bending it there was no way to attach the connector.

Apparently the first hard disk connector I was sent was defective (see my comment from January 6 above). Ifixit staff was very helpful and sent me a replacement that traveled from the US to Germany in just two days. I repeated the installation with the new cable, and it works. Thanks, Ifixit!

BUT—I have to add that I found this installation to be quite demanding. This is by far not the first time I've opened sensitive electronic devices to install parts or fix something, but still, there was a lot of sweating and swearing. Unless you have good nerves, I would actually NOT recommend you attempt this. The Mac Mini is packed VERY tightly and parts and connectors are really small; you definitely need tweezers and steady hands.

The second time I attempted this installation, I was actually afraid I had bricked the Mini, but fortunately it still works.

Some comments: the (very tiny!) connectors for the fan and IR sensor must be pulled UP to remove them, not to the side. (cont'd)

… it does say so in the manual (pull them up), but mine wouldn't move when pulling them, so I tried forcing them out towards the side. I nearly destroyed one of the connectors while figuring out that up is the only way they can move. Be careful.

* Step 3: My Mac Mini needed has three (not two) T6 screws on the fan that need to be removed. Apparently, Apple slightly changed the hardware design. I edited the guide to add this. (see also benjamin's comment from January 12).

* Step 11: I found it easier to remove the harddisk after this step, instead of removing the logic board first.

* Step 14: The screw marked yellow is no longer there if you removed three screws in step 3. (see above)

* Steps 15+16: When removing the logic board using Ifixit's special tool, there is a horrible crunching noise that made me cringe, but that seems to be normal; the board is okay. No worries :)

* Step 20+21: Took a lot of jiggling and pulling and lots of force until the power supply would come loose. I was always afraid I was breaking something.

The hardest bit was re-assembling the Mini. I found it VERY hard to replace the original (factory) hard disk. Its outer two grommets should slide into two shallow holes on the inside of the casing (hard to see), but I found it nearly impossible to achieve that, because when it appeared to be in place, the screw holes on the antenna plate would not align with those on the drive. In the end, I found it easier to attach the drive to the antenna plate first, and then slide drive plus antenna plate into the casing. Still, this needed a lot of jiggling and pushing and never seemed to fit properly. In the end, I kind of gave up and just forced the whole thing in. It worked, but it didn't feel right.

Another issue: the connector on the cable for the second hard disk did not properly align with the socket on the logic board, at least with my Mac mini. It reaches about 5 millimeters too far into the logic board (behind the socket), and a bit towards the right of the socket. So I had some pushing and bending to do before I could finally secure the connector onto the socket (always afraid of breaking the cable).

So, this wasn't easy, and for me, it needed two attempts (first time with a broken cable).

Be aware of this and don't get too frustrated when you do this installation.

I found the guide to be spot on . . . I have now taken it apart and put it back together 3 times, as the cable that came with my kit does not work. Once installed in the upper bay, I booted up and the drive was not found. So I took it all apart and hooked the new drive to the lower bay, and the old drive to the upper bay. This time when I turned it on (using recovery media) the mini only recognized the new drive which I was able to format and partition. I ended up switching back to the original configuration and it all works just as it used to, but I don't have the SSD installed and am hoping that iFixit will send me a replacement cable. So far I have not heard from them. The mini is an amazing piece of design and engineering, and very easy to take apart and reassemble. The first time it took me about and hour and the second and third got much quicker.

I had a bit of hard time, but eventually I succeded. One thing: the screwdriver in the kit is quite rubbish! Luckily I had another one. Be careful when re-assembling original drive: I did it twice, because I did not undestand how to secure it the first time. Remember to note the two holes hidden inside the aluminium body...

I debated this for a long time (dual ssds in software raid0, just replace hdd with ssd to minimize heat distriubtion). After a lot of research I did as iFixit said, and left the hdd alone and added a 240 GB ssd, a sizeable investment (found a great one for 255). With my brand new mac mini, I took a Saturday morning and over plenty cups of coffee, I successfully installed the ssd with nary a hitch. I see others have complained about various aspects of this guide or the kit they bought but I can only speak from my experience that everything went flawlessly. I'm glad because I had a hard time justifying the price of the kit, when I had a torque set and could get the SATA cable for $20. Without the other small pieces however, and having a kit that replicated the guide, it would have been a nightmare. Hats off to iFixit!

I could not get this to work, same as Paul Gibson. The adapter cable did not work, and the replacement cable that iFixit sent me did not work either. At least I suppose it's the cable because the drive works flawlessly and the Mac mini is fine. The dual-drive kit has completely failed for me. I've now exchanged the original internal drive with my SSD and put the original drive in an external USB enclosure (to be used as a Time Machine volume). So far, no problems, but it's not what I wanted. :(

At my first run into this guide my cable was defective, but iFixit quickly send me a replacement that arrive in 4 days in Sao Paulo-BR and voilá, everything works like a charm. Thanks to iFixit and I recommend to everyone this fix 'cause extra storage is always good!

When adding an OWC 6G SSD to my Mini, I found that I had to swap the drives in order for it to work; it didn't like the SSD drive in the second bay (couldn't reliably read or write). Once swapped, the dual drives worked perfectly.

I really liked the package with all the tools. The howto on the web was perfect very easy to follow and the result is perfect. I mounted two SSD disks and they work perfectly together so I thank iFixit very much for make it easy for all of us.

Deconstruction guide good (with exception of having to remove fan screw in step 4).

Rebuild: I was surprised how quickly I forgot how bits fitted together! ENSURE iFixit supplied cable goes BETWEEN hard drives!!! Step 36 was easier once I'd tipped MacMini on it's front & lowered the original hard drive into the lug holes in the casing (easier than pushing it in flat).

The cable that supplies the board with power (black multi-strand - next to PSU) got caught up between hard drives and the PSU making logic board hard to fit. Once I'd pushed the cable down between the drives with spudger all OK.

Finally I had a moment of panic when I thought logic board was misaligned. The black plastic cowel (semi circular piece with single screw) didn't seem to align! Push it just a bit further & it's fine, but I ended up taking it apart again to find this out!!

A few general notes from my successful effort; I'll leave step specific comments where applicable.

First, the kit is overkill IMHO, in that I already owned a suitable multi-piece Torx driver. I'd like to see the kit offered as parts only sans tools; however, the current sale price (as of this writing) does make the inclusion of the tool kit a good deal.

Second, "pay attention" to how your Mini is set up both before and after. I was using the "Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI Adapter" to connect an Apple 30" Cinema Display. Before I started, both the mini DisplayPort and USB ends were connected to the Mini. When I finished, I overlooked the USB end and then proceeded to have my own personal "doh!" moment trying to figure out why I wasn't getting any video. To make a long story short ("too late"?), after re-connecting the USB end I had video again (and an audible sigh of relief).

Finished in less than an hour thanks to all those who went before. I was especially gratified by those who commented on the "too long" second drive cable. I just can't understand why the guide has not been updated to make it clear that that first fold(closest to the drive connector) should actually be a Z fold to take up the excess length due to the DEFECTIVE cable manufacturing. Guys, I just can't figure out why you have not fixed this issue by now. Thankfully, alerted by others' comments, I was aware of that and quickly identified that my "45 degree" folds, per the guide, were inadequate to take up the slack so I only had to perform a short REdisassembly to refold the second drive cable. Also, the cable I got did not have any fold lines on it but had been thoughtfully pre-folded but not in an adequate fashion as I describe above.

Contd .. The other addition I have to offer concern removing the power supply: You must slightly displace the power supply away from the side of the case as there is a positioning bracket against which you will force the power supply if you attempt to use a simple "press and slide: approach from the accessible side of the power supply.

As several others noted, I had a struggle to get the antenna assembly reinstalled with proper alignment on all of the holes (disk and case). Part of the problem is that the back (curved) part of the antenna assembly must be slightly pried up so it can fit in the shallow recess on the outside of the case, otherwise the assembly will not slide back far enough for everything to line up. The rest of the problem I think was the "lump" of folded drive cable between the two drives due to the folding issue I described above. I was ultimately successful by slightly loosening all of the screws so there was a bit of wiggle space to get it pushed back into place.

In general, the instructions were very good and I had no "do overs" except as I note above concerning the cable. As I have observed on other iFixit projects, reassembly often presents different challenges than the disassembling and I remain unclear why the otherwise excellent guides don't yet include discreet steps for that as well. just sayin'.

I do a lot of hardware repairs and hacks. This manual made the process very easy. The whole process took about 30 minutes. I formatted my new drive USB cable before starting so when I hooted up the mini the new drive was mounted and ready to go.

Hint: if the power supply cables are in your way, double check the power supply and use your spudger to tuck them behind the new drive.

Hint 2: when installing the original drive, slide the drive over the new one then hold the Mac right side up as you guide the drive back into its holes. Then before letting the drive rest double check the drive cables are fully connected. Mine kept popping out until I got the old HD inserted just right.

Worked like a charm - these instructions were spot-on. Watch the grommets on the antenna grate (that cushion the screws that hold in the original drive) and the spring underneath the cowling screw. Nice product, and I'd _highly_ recommend getting the toolkit!

This worked fine. The guid is good, but you need to be patient. A little fiddling and everything went good. To get the main hdd back in place was the hardest part. The cords from the power to the mainboard needs to be put a little to the side.

This was a very step by step process. I had very little issues. My only problem and I would add this to the airport antenna. I tried very hard thinking it was the hard drive placement on why I could not get the 2 outer screws on but it was that the antenna has a small groove that fits with the case. If you don't get that on just right you cannot replace both screws.

Has anyone had problems with hard drives dying after installing? I feel that mine had overheated, because the platers were seized. However I'm only assuming since I replaced the chip board and only got beeping and other platter noises.

Easy install and this was my first time ever working on a computer with this much detail. Added the SSD to the second slot. The IR part was the hardest because I didn't want to break it. I just pushed up on the plastic rather than the wires and had no issues. Just take your time and used the 'never use force' rule. If I did have to use force I knew I was doing something incorrectly. Everything was a lot smaller than it seems in the pictures, but it went fine. Just keep good notes and take your time. Thanks iFixit!!! The tools were worth more than the $30 I paid. Great price!

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